North American investments shuffle supply picture

8:34 AM MDT | October 4, 2013 | —Vincent Valk

Plastic additives manufacturers, long faced with a supply glut, are looking to the US shale gas boom to spur polymer demand growth in North America. “From a global perspective, we see a more than adequate supply of plastic additives available,” says Andres Vaska, business director/upstream additives at BASF. “We are still long on supply.” However, Vaska notes that the outlook differs by region. “With shale gas, there are lots of investments coming that will boost demand in North America,” he says. BASF’s upstream plastic...